Resource Tool Kit

How Tos: Implementing, Sustaining, and Evaluating Your Program

Who's Talking

"The It All Adds Up Web site is a great place to find inspiration for new projects. I tell everyone about it. It's a great resource."Amy Haack, West Michigan Shoreline Regional Development Commission, MI

Developed by the Federal Highway Administration, this Resource Toolkit is a comprehensive guide to planning and implementing the It All Adds Up to Cleaner Air transportation and air quality public education initiative. It is designed to help you assess the air quality and transportation issues in your community, define your goals, analyze your target audience, choose the best approach to outreach and education, and evaluate your overall effort.

You may wish to use this kit as a step-by-step guide to implementing your public outreach program or simply as a source of ideas. Either way, it will be helpful to review the entire kit prior to embarking on your campaign. You may then choose to incorporate all of the suggested activities and materials in your effort or select those that are appropriate in scope and most relevant to your needs.

While communities across the country implement the It All Adds Up initiative, the look and feel of each program is unique, influenced by the community's size, structure, and requirements. The plan is flexible enough to fit into any established organizational structure, affording you the opportunity to make the initiative distinctly your own.

Use this step-by-step guide to develop an overall communications plan that will serve as the blueprint for your initiative. Set goals and objectives; identify target audience(s), communication channels, and key partners; determine suitable messages and materials; and establish evaluation measures, staffing, timeline, and budget.

Get acquainted with the free It All Adds Up materials and learn how to use them in your local public education efforts. Gain access to free, quality video and audio dubs of advertisements you can use as paid or public service announcements, as well as dozens of print and Web materials, outdoor and transit ads, and more.

Discover a variety of communications and outreach techniques and tips for effectively publicizing your program to the local press. Sample media materials are included that can be adapted for your community as needed, including a press release, media advisory, PSA pitch letter, fact sheet, op-ed, and a news article.

Understand the key methodologies and recommendations for conducting an effective program evaluation on a local level. Sample survey questions allow you to establish baseline data and track progress toward meeting your transportation and air quality goals.

Consider the evaluation and summary of the "First Five Years" of the initiative. Results indicated the value of flexible and diverse material development and use as reflected in demonstration communities' creative individual approaches.